The Fluffy Secret
by CyanGalaxy
Summary: Rex's night becomes that much more interesting when he and Commander Tano feed a smuggled Loth-cat on the 'Resolute' (Friendship Rexsoka).


"Shh, kitty!"

There was kind of a sharp harsh whispering sound that echoed through the halls, bouncing of the metallic walls _,_ then amuffled curse aimed at the animal Ahsoka was holding when it hissed back a threatening growl, along with irritating claws that were sticking into her arms as it tried to squirm in her grasp.

Turning a corner, Ahsoka almost hissed back at the cat while it seemed to climb up her back, finding the only comfortable place resting between her montrals.

"Ow- Argh- would you cut it out?!" she snapped, only remembering to be quiet after she snarled at it. The time was nearly 0100 hours, and no one would be happy waking up to the sound of a 14-year-old girl and her scampering little pet walking around in the halls, hissing at each other.

The _thing_ -as it could only be described as-now clung itself harder into her head, making Ahsoka really tempted to throw the thing out into hyperspace. Yes, after all, cruelty to living-beings was not the Jedi way, but this cat was practically hurting her now, and doesn't that count as self defence?...right?

"Ugh- can you behave, please?" The decision to sneak this little guy aboard was definitely becoming a regretful one. Though, when she remembered his completely pure, wide, adorable blue eyes a day ago on Lothal, Ahsoka knew that if she had the power to change back time and alter her judgment to take the stray, she still would have made the same choice. "Curse you and your _endearing_ face for making me do this. You know, I could get in a lot of trouble just by being seen with you, so you better be grateful for the food I'm going to give you."

The cat seemed to understand what she was saying, or made up its mind that it liked resting on her head, so its small frame curled up and started to purr. Ahsoka smiled ever so faintly that now she could walk with balance, though if some night-owl came crossing paths with her, she knew this still wouldn't look very good.

Finally making it to the mess hall, Ahsoka went inside, glad that she couldn't sense anyone here. Her first objective was to go to the kitchen, the pantry would certainly have some type of editable animal food in there. Most of the food Humans eat wasn't that different from the food cats eat, right? All she needed to do was find something with no plantation, just meat-carnivore sustenance. That wouldn't be too hard to find, since Ahsoka herself, as a Togruta, was a carnivore.

"Let's see here..." Her finger trailed over the many types of nourishments (most were ration bars and other military quick meals meant for the battle field.) "Bread. No. Canned corn. No. Potatoes. No. Ugh... How about canned cat food?"

Too busy searching through the huge military pantry, the girl didn't realise she wasn't alone.

"What's the matter, little'un? Hungry?"

Silence.

"Uhhh... yes?" And so slowly, Ahsoka turned around from the shelves only to see Captain Rex in the door way, unarmored with a slightly disapproved, but clearly an amused face, even if he was trying to hide it. "What are you doing up this late?" she asked, lekku darkening with embarrassment.

Rex raised an eyebrow, not changing the subject which Ahsoka would have preferred. "Never mind that, since I find the question of 'why do you have a cat on your head' far more interesting."

Well, she was right about the whole looking-completly-insane-if-anyone-saw-her thing. Anyway, she assumed it was better to just confess the truth. She was already caught...and with a _cat on her head,_ so Ahsoka couldn't exactly shrug it off and lie. "...Okay, so... I may have smuggled this Loth-cat onboard from Lothal. It was a stray, and practically _starving_ , so I thought I would feed it."

Rex didn't say anything, just stared from the cat to Ahsoka back and fourth. "Uh-huh."

Her eyes drifted into a sort of desperate glance. "...Are you going to tell anybody?" She knew if Rex informed the Admiral she would be dead. Force knows what would happen if he finds out she snuck a wild animal onto his cruiser.

Rex's hazel eyes went wide, vague disbeliefe portrayed on his features and a hint of fake offence. "What? Me? C'mon, little'un, what kind of person would I be if I snitched on the Commander for simply helping out the wildlife?"

She even smiled at his answer, the cat coincidentally purring louder too from above. Rex was a good man, even if he knew he'd probably get into trouble for this; but that's what she liked about him. He was one of the few clones that didn't always follow protocol, ditching that formal way to do what's really the goodhearted thing to do. Sure, there may be some not-so-good consequences, but it doesn't matter to him unless the right thing was done in the first place.

"Thanks, Rex. I guess I owe you one."

"Nah, it's nothing." He came down to where she was, standing next to her, helping Ahsoka look for the right food. "But... if we do end up getting court-martailed for this, I'm saying this was all your idea." He chuckled, and even though he was teasing her, Ahsoka couldn't help but think what if they really did get in trouble. She doubted she would actually get the blame though, because knowing Rex, he would take _all_ the blame for her wether she liked it or not. That was another thing she admired about her Captain: his protectiveness; the constant need to look after the ones he cared about.

"Ah-huh! Canned beef! Cats like beef, I assume?" Rex exclaimed, breaking Ahsoka out of her thoughts and awakening the stray. It woke startled, grasping her lekku like its life depended on it.

"Augh!" She fought back the urge to shake the thing off. "Loth-cat, can you please calm down?" She reasoned, slightly more civilised and Jedi-like as apposed to snarling back. "You're going to get your food, just hold on." She said, reaching her arms up ever so gently to grab the cat.

At first it arched its back, nearly throwing Ahsoka off balance; then settling down as her warm hands wrapped around its small body. She set the cat on the ground, just as Rex set the now opened beef can next to it.

It seemed confused at first, simply sniffing the contains, but then the animal figured out what it was, then literally munched on the food so fast it was basically entirely gone by the first few minutes. "Hmm, this cat kind of reminds me of Master Skywalker." She mused. "They definitely both eat alike, that's for sure."

Once the cat was done (finished in record time, by the way), Ahsoka carefully disposed of the evidence (really just an empty food can) and tucked the cat under her arm.

"What are you going to do with him now?" Rex asked, curious to know the answer.

Despite her masterplan to get the cat aboard, Ahsoka however didn't think of the after effects of getting the cat _back_ home. The _Resolute_ was far away from Lothal now, so its not like she could tell Yularen to turn the whole ship around. "Uh, I don't know. I didn't really think of what to do after I fed him." She replied rather sheepishly.

"So this was an improvised plan?"

"...Yeah."

Rex thought for a moment, Ahsoka unable to read what he was thinking behind the tough wall of concentration. After a few minutes, he spoke again and with a smug smirk. "Don't worry, Commander. I think I know what to do."

So after that Rex left with the cat, and the next day she wasn't even going to question why Yularen was shouting about a pest infestation, and why the Captain was exclaiming how he had no idea a Loth-cat got inside the barracks. Thankfully, the Admiral did make the return trip back to Lothal, and from what Ahsoka heard, Rex placed the animal back home. And hopefully, this little late-night incident will stay their fluffy little secret for the time being.

 **A/N**

 **Aww... well I hoped you liked that friendship fic. much *fluff* literally xD**

 **Anyway, I have about 11 story ideas right now, and I couldn't decide which one to write, so I got a friend to pick a number between 1 and 11, so she chose 6 and this one turned out to be 6! And I'm really glad I wrote it now, because this was fun to write :)**

 **Feedback is really nice :)**

 **May the Force be with you**

 **-CyanGalxy**


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